# Michelle Fischbach *Republican U.S. representative from Minnesota's 7th congressional district; formerly Minnesota lieutenant governor and state senator* Michelle Louise Helene Fischbach (née St. Martin; born November 3, 1965) is an attorney and politician who has represented [[Minnesota]]'s 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021.[^1][^2][^3] The district is mostly rural, covers most of western Minnesota, and is the state's largest by area.[^4] A member of the [[Republican Party (United States)]], she was Minnesota's 49th lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2019. As of 2026 she remained the most recent Republican to have held statewide office in the state.[^4] Fischbach sat in the [[Minnesota Senate]] from 1996 to 2018 and presided over it in 2011–2013 and 2017–2018.[^5] Governor [[Mark Dayton]] named Lieutenant Governor [[Tina Smith]] to the U.S. Senate after Al Franken resigned. Fischbach, as Senate president, then succeeded to the office of [[Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota]], as the Minnesota Constitution requires.[^6] Whether she could also keep her Senate seat became a disputed constitutional question.[^7] While serving as lieutenant governor, she ran in the 2018 Republican primary as the running mate of former [[Governor of Minnesota]] [[Tim Pawlenty]], and the ticket lost to Jeff Johnson.[^8] In 2020 Fischbach unseated Collin Peterson, the DFL incumbent of 30 years, by 49,226 votes.[^9][^10] In January 2021 she joined the objections to counting the electoral votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania. She also voted against the second impeachment of Donald Trump.[^11] ## Early life, education and career Fischbach was raised in [[Woodbury]], Minnesota, and finished at Woodbury High School.[^12] From 1984 to 1986 she studied at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph. She then moved to [[St. Cloud State University]], which awarded her a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics in 1989.[^12] In 2011 she completed a Juris Doctor at William Mitchell School of Law in Saint Paul.[^12][^13] Her start in politics was an internship with Rudy Boschwitz while he was a U.S. senator from Minnesota.[^12] In 1994 Paynesville voters elected her to the city council, the first woman to win a seat there. She remained on the council until she entered the state Senate in 1996.[^12] ## Minnesota Senate Joe Bertram, a DFL senator, resigned after pleading guilty to shoplifting, and Fischbach won the 1996 special election for his seat.[^5] Voters returned her that November and again in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2016.[^5][^10] In the minority she was an assistant minority leader in 2001–2002 and 2007–2008, and a deputy minority leader in 2009–2010. She also chaired the Senate's higher education committee.[^5] Senate Republicans won their first majority since party designation in the election before 2011. That year her colleagues made her the first woman to serve as president of the Senate. She held the post until Republicans lost the majority in 2013.[^5] Republicans regained control in the 2016 election, and on January 3, 2017, she was again elected president.[^5] ## Lieutenant governor of Minnesota ### Succession On December 13, 2017, Dayton chose Smith, his lieutenant governor, to fill the U.S. Senate seat left by Al Franken. Franken had stepped down over allegations of sexual misconduct.[^6] Smith left the lieutenant governorship on January 2, 2018, to take the Senate seat. Under Article V of the Minnesota Constitution, the office passed automatically to Fischbach as Senate president.[^6] ### Constitutional dispute Fischbach accepted that she had become lieutenant governor but intended to keep her Senate seat, describing herself as "acting lieutenant governor".[^7] Whether one person could lawfully hold both offices was contested. She pointed to a memo from the Senate's nonpartisan counsel that cited an 1898 [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] decision as precedent. She also argued that the largely ceremonial duties of the lieutenant governor would not keep her from serving in both posts.[^7] She drew only a senator's pay and turned down the lieutenant governor's salary.[^7] Attorney General [[Lori Swanson]] issued an advisory opinion questioning whether the arrangement was legal. The opinion relied on a constitutional amendment adopted in 1972 and on other historical precedents.[^7] Republicans held the Senate by a single vote. In December 2017, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and House Speaker Kurt Daudt wrote to Dayton. They asked him to call a special session to elect a Democratic Senate president temporarily, so that the chamber would not tie if Fischbach gave up her Senate seat. Dayton and legislative Democrats rejected the proposal at once.[^7] ### 2018 gubernatorial primary While still the sitting lieutenant governor, Fischbach was Pawlenty's choice for lieutenant governor in the Republican primary for the 2018 governor's race. Jeff Johnson defeated the Pawlenty–Fischbach ticket.[^8][^10] ## U.S. House of Representatives ### Elections On September 3, 2019, Fischbach declared that she would seek the Republican nomination to run against Peterson, a Democrat who had held the 7th district for 30 years. She went on to win a five-candidate primary.[^9][^10] The district had been moving toward Republicans. In three of the five preceding presidential elections, the Republican nominee had won it by double digits. In 2016 Donald Trump took 62% there, his strongest result in Minnesota and one of his strongest in any Democratic-held district.[^9] During the campaign she promised to support Trump on trade and to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent. She also called for workforce education and more COVID-19 relief for rural and farm businesses. The campaign stressed support for farmers and for the Second Amendment, opposition to abortion, and tighter border security.[^9] Her 49,226-vote win over Peterson was the widest margin of any Republican who unseated a Democratic incumbent in 2020. Trump carried the district with 64% that year, his best result in the state.[^9][^10] She and Mariannette Miller-Meeks are the only Republicans in Congress who flipped Democratic House districts that Republicans had not held before 2018.[^9] ### Tenure On January 7, 2021, she was among the 139 representatives who objected to certifying the electoral votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election. They cited alleged irregularities and voter fraud.[^11] Six days later, on January 13, 2021, she voted no on Trump's second impeachment.[^11] ### Committee assignments In the 118th Congress she served on the Committee on Ethics and the Committee on Rules.[^14][^2][^15][^16] ## Political positions ### Abortion She has a long record of opposing abortion and has introduced bills restricting access to it on several occasions.[^17] ### Firearms She supports gun rights under the Second Amendment.[^17] ### Israel After the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, she voted to give Israel support.[^17] ### Vote to defund vice president On November 8, 2023, she and 100 other Republicans voted for an amendment to a large appropriations bill. The amendment would have barred funding for the Office of Vice President Kamala Harris.[^17] ## Personal life She is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.[^18] She met her husband, Scott, while she was working on a campaign for Boschwitz. The two began dating during her time at St. Cloud State University and later settled in nearby Paynesville.[^18] Paynesville, at the far southern edge of the district, was still her home when she ran for Congress. The family later relocated to Regal, near Willmar.[^18] The couple have two children and several grandchildren.[^18] Since 2001 Scott Fischbach has been executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.[^18] ## Notes [^1]: Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, *Fischbach, Michelle* (member record, undated) — House service from Minnesota's 7th district beginning 2021. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/25769817178 [^2]: Congress.gov, *Michelle Fischbach (F000470)* (member profile, undated) — member of the House from Minnesota; committee information. https://congress.gov/member/michelle-fischbach/F000470 [^3]: Office of Rep. Michelle Fischbach, *About* (undated) — official member biography, Minnesota's 7th district. https://fischbach.house.gov/about [^4]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), lead — district description; 49th lieutenant governor, 2018–2019; last Republican statewide officeholder as of 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^5]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Minnesota Senate" — 1996 special election, reelections, leadership posts, Senate presidency 2011–2013 and from January 3, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^6]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Succession" — Smith appointment on December 13, 2017; Smith's resignation on January 2, 2018; succession under Article V. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^7]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Constitutional dispute" — dual-office question, Senate counsel memo, Swanson advisory opinion, Gazelka–Daudt letter of December 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^8]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), lead — Pawlenty–Fischbach ticket and its loss to Jeff Johnson in the 2018 Republican primary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^9]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Elections: 2020" — announcement on September 3, 2019; primary; district vote history; 49,226-vote margin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^10]: Ballotpedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (undated) — election and officeholder reference. https://ballotpedia.org/Michelle_Fischbach [^11]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Tenure" — electoral-vote objection on January 7, 2021; impeachment vote on January 13, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^12]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Early life, education and career" — schooling, degrees, Boschwitz internship, Paynesville City Council in 1994. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^13]: Mitchell Hamline School of Law, *Mitchell Hamline alum Michelle Fischbach elected to Congress* (2020-11-04) — her law degree from the school's predecessor; 2020 election. https://mitchellhamline.edu/news/2020/11/04/mitchell-hamline-alum-michelle-fischbach-elected-to-congress/ [^14]: Office of Rep. Michelle Fischbach, *Committees and Caucuses* (undated) — the member's own listing of committee assignments. https://fischbach.house.gov/committees-and-caucuses [^15]: Committee on Rules, U.S. House of Representatives, *Committee on Rules* (undated) — committee home page and membership. https://rules.house.gov/ [^16]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Committee assignments" — Ethics and Rules in the 118th Congress. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^17]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Political positions" — abortion, firearms, Israel; appropriations amendment vote on November 8, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach [^18]: Wikipedia, *Michelle Fischbach* (revid 1375577488, retrieved 2026-10-25), "Personal life" — religion, family, residences; Scott Fischbach's post since 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Fischbach